Water Tribunal

A river made up in a long journey to Istanbul

As a vast river finding its drainage, the Water Tribunal has made a long journey before flowing, this March, into the Bosphorus.

This river has, as is logical, many tributaries. In its origins lies the main reason for its existence: the increasing risk that hydrological systems of the planet are put under, from the most diverse forms of contamination and abuse, until the more recent threats expressed in the attempts to privatize the water available for human consumption.

Closely together from that tributary another one arises, that also is manifested in the origins of this Tribunal. It is the increasing “crisis of legality”, that is expressed in the incapacity of the States to satisfy the demands of the citizens who, with increasing frequency, see threatened the indispensable access to the necessary water for life.

To these two great slopes, many others are then added in order to give form to this vast river that is today the Water Tribunal. It is about dozens, then hundreds and, probably, thousands of tributaries that will come, in the future, to empty into the Water Tribunal: with their demands and hopes for their rightful claims for an adapted use water, to be heard by those who must put attention to people’s needs.

A long journey

That river has gone through a long-haul already, before arriving at Istanbul. The Tribunal (created in 1998), held a meeting for the first time in San Jose, Costa Rica, in 2000, to analyze eleven cases of threats to the hydrological systems in Central America. A second Central American hearing was conducted, also in the city of San Jose, from March 15 to 19, 2004, with the purpose of settling nine causes on the infringement to the hydrological systems and the environmental rights of the communities in the region.

As a result of those experiences, the Tribunal met again, from Marc 13 to 20, 2006, in Mexico City, to settle 13 causes on infringement to the hydrological systems and environmental rights in Latin American countries, affected by far-reaching hydroelectric projects, like the La Parota, in Mexico; by cases of industrial and mining contamination; and by privatization of the water, as happened in Bolivia, amongst several other cases.

In the following hearing, in the Mexican city of Guadalajara in October 2007, the Tribunal reaffirmed its international vocation, with the judging of seven cases, from Mexico and South America, to diverse cases of contamination by open-cast mining operations in Central America.

The last hearing was conducted in 2008, in the city of Antigua, Guatemala. This hearing had the particular task to analyze cases of abuse to the hydrological systems in indigenous territories, and counted on the participation of representatives from some of the main
indigenous communities of Guatemala.

This Water Tribunal has some illustrious antecedents. Similar experiences were carried out in Holland and Brazil. The first of them occurred in 1983, in Rotterdam. In 1992, in Amsterdam, another session took place, in which cases of contamination of the water in Asia, the Australian Continent and Latin America were denounced. In 1993, the National Water Tribunal of Brazil analyzed cases about coal exploitation and the construction of hydroelectric plants in that country.

Inspired by those beginnings, we are now initiating, five years later, this long journey that has taken us all the way to the borders of the Bosphorus, going first through the lands of Central America, and then, Latin America.

Ethical principles

The Water Tribunal is an international, independent and autonomous body for environmental justice, created for the purpose of helping resolve conflicts related to bodies of water and hydrological systems. It is based on coexistence principles, respect for human dignity, solidarity between peoples, sanctity of all life forms, and environmental responsibility.

The procedures of the Water Tribunal imply two fundamental paradigms: the eco-centric one that puts nature itself at the center, surpassing the anthropocentric one. Secondly, it espouses a holistic notion that seeks to break-up procedural mechanisms that impose rigid procedures and separates reality into parts, working against the systemic, fundamental thought in ecology.

The Tribunal seeks to bring back consciousness to people so they can form opinions on the handling and protection of hydrological systems, as well as fomenting a vigilant attitude on the projects that can affect these valuable systems and bodies of water. In this way, the Tribunal looks to fortify a water culture, by means of modifying and eliminating practices that negatively affect aquatic ecosystems and resources.

The procedures for being effective in an ethical judicial system must depart from the connection between some procedural principles of positive law, and the required speed needed for a process of ethical character.

In this contest of justice, diverse fundamental principles converge, such as the impartiality for the analysis of probatory systems; the scientific and deep judgment (in agreement with fairness) with respect to the pleas and arguments of the parts; the impartiality with respect to the presented evidence; the foundation in systemic criteria in regards to scientist-technical issues; and the integrity and scrupulousness for ecological values that work as guidelines for such analysis and the proper respect to the process.

Although it is certain that the verdicts and resolutions of a consciousness tribunal are not obligatory for compliance by the authorities of any one country, the international diffusion of the sentences and the censorship from the international community will impel a moral sentence, encouraging the search for alternatives in the solution of hydrological conflicts.

The hearing of Istambul

This long journey has come to end at the Bosphorus, on the borders of the Turkish capital Istanbul, where a new hearing will be conducted together with the support of the Heinrrich Böell Foundation. The Tribunal will analyze five cases. The Water Tribunal in Istanbul will be a platform for alternative justice, whose intention is to promote dialogue between the parties, and to search for solutions to selected hydrological issues.

Altogether, five cases will be taken care of: three from Turkey; one from Mexico; and another one from Brazil:

• The Yusufeli Dam Project, in the Çoruh river, the Turkish region of the Black Sea;

• The Ilisu Dam Project, in the Dicle river (Tigris), in the provinces of Mardin and Şırnak;

• The dams in the valley of Munzur, the province of Tunceli, on the Euphrates river

• The construction of mega dams on the Madeira River, in the state of Rondônia, Brazil; and

• The social and environmental impacts of water projects in Mexico.

The activity will be carried out from March 10 to 14, 2009, in the Exhibition Hall and Center of Intercultural Activities Tetun Deposu, in Istanbul, Turkey. This will be an ad hoc tribunal whose jury will be integrated by recognized international personalities, experts in the subject.